Your complete guide to flights, car hire, parking and lounges at Port Elizabeth Airport (PLZ) — also known as PE Airport and Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape.
The full story of Port Elizabeth Airport’s name change to Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport who he was, why the airport was renamed, and what it means for travellers today.
Port Elizabeth Airport carries one of the more layered names in South African aviation. Depending on who you ask, when they last visited, or which generation of traveller you’re speaking to, you might hear it called Port Elizabeth Airport, PE Airport, PLZ, or its current official name — Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport. All four refer to exactly the same airport. Here’s the full story of how that came to be, and what it means for anyone flying through Gqeberha today.
The airport’s history dates back to 1917, when the first flight between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth was completed by Major Allister Mackintosh Miller — a flight considered remarkable for its distance at the time, and widely regarded as the beginning of civil aviation in the city. This pioneering flight, and many others that followed, has been immortalised in artwork by Ron Belling, much of which is displayed at the Ron Belling Art Gallery in Gqeberha.
Through most of the 20th century, the airport operated under various names, including H. F. Verwoerd Airport for a period, before becoming widely known simply as Port Elizabeth Airport — the name most South Africans of older generations still use instinctively today, and the name that continues to carry the highest search volume online.
The terminal underwent a significant modernisation completed in June 2004, expanding its capacity to handle up to two million passengers per year and bringing the facility in line with the rest of ACSA’s national network.
On 23 February 2021, the airport’s name was officially gazetted as Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport, replacing Port Elizabeth International Airport. This change occurred alongside one of the most significant renamings in modern South African geography: the city of Port Elizabeth itself was simultaneously renamed Gqeberha.
Both renamings form part of a broader, ongoing process across South Africa of revisiting place names inherited from the colonial era and replacing them with names that honour indigenous heritage, historical resistance figures, and pre-colonial identity. Gqeberha is the Xhosa name for the Baakens River that runs through the city, while the airport’s new name turns the spotlight onto one specific historical figure: Chief Dawid Stuurman.
Chief Dawid Stuurman was a Khoikhoi leader and anti-colonial resistance figure active in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in the Eastern Cape. He led resistance against Dutch and later British colonial expansion into Khoikhoi territory, becoming one of the most prominent symbols of indigenous resistance in the region’s history.
What makes Stuurman’s story particularly remarkable — and the reason his name carries such symbolic weight today — is that he is recorded as the only person in history to have escaped from Robben Island twice. Robben Island, long before its 20th-century association with Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment, was already in use as a place of banishment and incarceration for political prisoners and resistance leaders during the colonial period. Stuurman’s two escapes from the island stand as an extraordinary feat of defiance against a system designed to be inescapable.
Naming the city’s primary airport after Stuurman was a deliberate act of historical reclamation — placing a Khoikhoi resistance leader’s name at the literal gateway through which most visitors enter the Eastern Cape, a region central to so much of South Africa’s colonial and anti-colonial history.
In practice, all of the following refer to exactly the same airport, and you’ll see all of them used interchangeably by airlines, booking platforms, locals and travel guides:
Port Elizabeth Airport — still the most commonly searched and most widely recognised name, particularly among older South Africans and international travellers using older guidebooks or platforms.
PE Airport — a common shorthand, especially among locals and South African travellers.
Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport — the official, legal name since February 2021, used on ACSA’s own website and in all formal/government contexts.
Gqeberha Airport — an increasingly used informal name reflecting the city’s own renaming, though less commonly searched than the others at present.
PLZ — the IATA airport code, used throughout the aviation industry, on flight bookings, baggage tags and airline schedules. The ICAO code is FAPE.
For the purposes of this website, we use Port Elizabeth Airport (PLZ) as our primary reference — since it remains the most widely searched and recognised term — while making sure to reference Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport and Gqeberha clearly throughout, since these are the names you’ll increasingly encounter as South Africa’s naming transition continues.
IATA code: PLZ ICAO code: FAPE Location: Walmer, Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, South Africa Distance from city centre: approximately 5 km Operator: Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) Runways: Two asphalt runways — 08/26 (1,980m) and 17/35 (1,677m) Terminal size: approximately 8,700 square metres Elevation: 226 feet (69m) above sea level First flight: 1917 (Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, Major Allister Mackintosh Miller) Terminal modernised: completed June 2004 Officially renamed: 23 February 2021.
FAQ A complete guide to Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport / Port Elizebeth Airport – airlines, parking, facilities, transport options, charter services, check-in tips and more.
1. What is the official name of Port Elizabeth Airport? Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport, officially gazetted on 23 February 2021.
2. Why was Port Elizabeth Airport renamed? The renaming honours Chief Dawid Stuurman, a Khoikhoi anti-colonial resistance leader, as part of a broader South African process of replacing colonial-era place names with names reflecting indigenous heritage. It coincided with the city’s own renaming from Port Elizabeth to Gqeberha.
3. Who was Chief Dawid Stuurman? A Khoikhoi leader who led resistance against colonial expansion in the Eastern Cape during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He is recorded as the only person in history to have escaped from Robben Island twice.
4. Is Port Elizabeth Airport the same as Gqeberha Airport? Yes. Port Elizabeth Airport, PE Airport, Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport, Gqeberha Airport and PLZ Airport all refer to the same airport.
5. What is the IATA code for Port Elizabeth Airport? PLZ. The ICAO code is FAPE.
6. When did Port Elizabeth become Gqeberha? The city’s renaming to Gqeberha was officially gazetted on the same date as the airport’s renaming — 23 February 2021.
7. Is the airport’s old name still used? Yes, very widely. “Port Elizabeth Airport” and “PE Airport” remain the most commonly searched and most recognisable names, even though “Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport” is the official legal name.
8. When was Port Elizabeth Airport built? Civil aviation at the site dates back to 1917, with the first flight between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. The modern terminal was completed in June 2004.
9. Who manages Port Elizabeth Airport? Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), the same state entity that operates OR Tambo, Cape Town International and King Shaka International.
10. Does Port Elizabeth Airport have international flights? Yes. Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport holds full international status, with customs and immigration facilities for international and regional routes alongside its core domestic network.
From flight bookings and car hire to parking guides and travel tips – bramfischerairport.co.za is your independent guide to Port Elizabeth Airport (PLZ), also known as Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport and PE Airport in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape. Not affiliated with ACSA or the airport’s management.
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